Adem Yze

Personal information
Birth	21 September 1977 (1977-09-21) (age 32).
Recruited from	Shepparton United Football Club (GVFL)
Height and weight	187cm / 85kg[1]
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 13, 1 July 1995, Melbourne vs. Richmond, at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Team(s)	Melbourne Football Club (1995-2008) 271 games, 234 goals[2] Box Hill Hawks (2009-)
¹ Statistics to end of Round 19, 2008 season
Career highlights
Best First Year Player 1995 Rising Star Nominee 1996 Second Best and Fairest 1998 Most Improved 1998 Third Best and Fairest 2000, 2004 Victorian State Representative 2000 Best and Fairest 2001 Most Consistent 2001 All-Australian 2002 Equal Third Brownlow 2002 2002 International Rules Series Best Team Player 2004

Adem Yze (born 21 September 1977)^[3] is an Australian rules footballer of Albanian descent. He was educated at Galvin Park Secondary College in Werribee,Victoria. He has made the third highest number of appearances in the history of the Melbourne Football Club.^[4]

Contents 1 Melbourne career 2 Playing style 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Melbourne career

Taken at #16 in the 1994 National AFL Draft, and debuting in 1995 with the Melbourne Demons, he has been an almost permanent fixture with the club throughout his career. He has remained remarkably consistent in this time, moving from half back to the midfield and in recent years has moved between half forward and half back. Yze led the league in kicks in 2001, 2002 and 2004, while coming third behind Scott Camporeale and Nathan Buckley in 2000.

In 2007, Yze found struggling with his form over the pre-season. After a disappointing performance against St Kilda in Round 1, his streak of 226 consecutive AFL appearances was put to an end, with Melbourne decided to drop him for the Round 2 game against Hawthorn.^[5] Yze was then selected for Melbourne's Round 4 match against Fremantle and picked up a career-high 38-possessions^[3] and kicked 1 goal, being named as one of the best on ground for the day. Despite seeing very little first-team action in 2008 - the last year of his contract at Melbourne, Yze has declared his intention to continue playing football, even if that means he enters the draft, or plays at VFL level. At 30, Yze feels he could play on for another two or three years.^[6]

Due to Melbourne Football Clubs youth policy introduced at the end of Season 2008, Adem was delisted after only six senior appearances for the year, in which he kicked 5 goals. However these six games allowed Yze to notch up 300 senior appearances, which resulted in him gaining Lifetime AFL Membership. Yze expressed his desire to play on at another AFL club in Season 2009 declaring he would apply for the preseason draft, yet he conceded he had "stuff all" chances of being picked up by another club. However Yze declared he would play on regardless in 2009, even if it was at a suburban club, such as East Burwood, where his brother Damian Yze plays. Yze will play with the Box Hill Hawks, which is aligned with Hawthorn in 2009. [1]

[edit] Playing style

Yze is known for his straight kicks and ability to kick goals from seemingly-impossible angles. He has kicked five goals in a game on five occasions.^[7] He is a creative forward and comes from the Victorian country town of Shepparton, being one of the AFL players along with Shaun Hart and Jason Trianidis to hail from Shepparton United Football Club in the Goulburn Valley Football League. His honours as a player include All-Australian selection in 2002, winning the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Memorial Trophy for Melbourne's Best and Fairest player in 2001, representing Australia in the International Rules Series 2002 and playing in the 2000 Grand Final against Essendon. He took one of the marks of the year in Round 21 of 2006 against Geelong, leaping onto Josh Hunt's shoulders and taking a brilliant chest mark while falling forward, over Hunt, with the commentator screaming "Yze-lenko you beauty!" (in reference to Alex Jesaulenko's famous mark). Though he sprained his wrist while trying to support the fall and later admitted he might need to get some tips from high flyer Russell Robertson on how to land correctly in such a situation.

He is also noted as being one of very few Muslims to play Aussie Rules professionally, although he does not actively practise Islam.^[8] Fellow Muslim, Bachar Houli, has stated that he hopes to follow in Yze's footballing footsteps.^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Adem Yze profile on the Official AFL Website of the Melbourne Football Club
• Adem Yze's statistics from AFL Tables

Awards
Preceded by Shane Woewodin	Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal 2001	Succeeded by David Neitz